Dear Members,
I thought it was about time that we gathered together to express what we have experienced with biophosphonates, as these are the only drugs for treating osteoporosis all over the world -- and they have recently drawn much fire. Yet there are some who claim to have benefited from them. Almost everyone is afraid to give them up -- because they are what the doctor prescribed!
My knowledge about them is very little. I took Actonel 35 mg once per week for about 13 months because I was diagnosed with osteopenia. And then I gave it up -- primarily because I just "forgot" so many weekly doses that I thought it was a lost battle! I didnt get a Dexa scan done after that.
All I can say is that during the days that I was taking Actonel I felt myself becoming weaker and weaker -- I became very prone to repeated bouts of influenza. My stomach was bad most of the time. And a feeling of ache and acute fatigue developed in my left leg which already had a compromised nerve from my slipped disc.
After I gave up Actonel the ache in my leg disappeared, I stopped getting influenza, and my stomach and head became better. I dont know what it did for the oeteopenia.
I am now taking Vitamin D in high doses and moving about as much as I can, and rarely think in terms of biophosphonates. But I know of people who have taken Actonel and have had no bad symptoms from it and whose osteoporosis has benefited from it.
It would be most interesting to hear what so many learned folk here have to say on the subject. It is about time somebody cleared up the confusion so that we would either go ahead and take the biophosphonates without worry or else give them up without fear of the consequences.
Thanking you in anticipation,
Yours,
Priya
Hi Priya, great question!! All medications have both risks and benefits. The risks of these drugs have been widely reported and I don't know of anyone who can't list all the reasons one may not want to take them, but we do know one thing, and that is they do slow bone loss and in turn reduce fractures. I talked to many people who say they've done well with these drugs and didn't suffer any side effects and then you'll undoubtedly hear from those that had many troublesome side effects; so what is the answer to this?
We do have other drugs available for osteoporosis that you may choose, but I realize they may not be available in your country so you are in a unique situation. But here and in most other countries we have other options if you choose not to take a bisphosphonate.
Each of us will have to decide for ourselves, how we want to treat bone loss and I would imagine we'll all have differing reasons for the choices we make.
Here's an excellent podcast from Dr. Steven Harris from a presentation he made at the North American Menopause Society, on "Update on Current and Future Osteoporosis Treatments-on Oct. 08, 2009".
Click on this link, and then on the title above at FORE, to hear the full presentation on this topic about osteoporosis, which include the risk and the benefits seen with these drugs.
I hope this answers your question and gives you some ideas on this topic and the on-going evaluation of these drugs by many prominent clinicians.
Thanks for sharing your question, and I hope some of our members will give you their opinions as well.
Dear Pam,
As always your responses are perfect and to the point, with a balanced view of both sides of the picture-- and as always they give some new and important medical link to study and ponder upon.
You are a real asset to OsteoporosisConnection.com -- and it may be because of people like yourself that this site enjoys wide popularity in the world! You are one expert who is always there -- for everyone, ever ready to answer questions and give advice!! You make it your mission in life to be there for each one of us-- regardless of the inconvenience it may cause you and the many hours and hours that you spend in painstakingly digging up more and more sites and links, always from such reliable sources!!
Thank you so much!!
Yours,
Priya